MDF Off

‘GOODBYE, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. We shall miss your long hair, your loud shirts and your even louder velvet smoking jackets.

Farewell, Linda Barker. You remade many a bedroom in your favourite pastel shades.

And adios, Handy Andy. You can go back to being, well, plain Andy Kane. Again.

In news that will cause shares in MDF manufacturers to plummet, the Mirror announces that Changing Rooms – the show that made over British TV in its flimsy image – is to be axed.

After eight years, the BBC have now redecorated every home in the country at licence-fee payers’ expense – and have decided to call it quits.

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen explained: ‘I’ve been so enjoying it, but it does feel as if Changing Rooms has done the job it set out to do.

‘It’s a case of beam us up, our work on your planet is done.’

If that work was to prove to TV bosses that people will literally watch paint dry, then Changing Rooms has been a fantastic success.

It started off on BBC2 in 1996, but was moved to BBC1 in 1998 and has since been sold to more than 20 countries.

At its height, the programme attracted 10 million viewers an episode, but recently that number has fallen to around four million.

That is probably because of the host of copycat programmes it spawned – House Invaders, House Doctor, Ground Force, Girls On Top, Change That, That Looks Crap, Celebrity Paint Job…

‘There’s not a house in Britain left untouched by the Changing Rooms attitude,’ boasts Laurence.

‘It was an institution, the very first makeover show, and really changed the way people looked at their homes.’

Even here in Anorak Towers, we have not remained immune. Out went the antique mahogany tables and oak bookshelves and in came some flimsy MDF, painted lilac with stencils of roses…’

Posted: 27th, August 2004 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink